Na Pali Coast (and trail)

The Na Pali coast is, I’ve been told, one of the highlights, if not THE highlight of Kauai. I am not a fan of hiking so I cannot enthusiastically get behind that … many years ago when I visited  New Zealand and arrived at such a famous coast + trail I chose to skydive over it … and THAT was a good way to see it!

Kauai island is small and there is a road that goes almost all the way around it … almost because the Napali coast is a 17 mile stretch of cliffs and so the road reaches both end of the cliffs but cannot go fully around.

It is a demanding trail. We did the first 2 mile stretch and then started another two mile stretch that leads to a waterfall, but turned back half way into the trail … so a 6 mile round trip.

There are two vantage points, a quarter of a mile and then a half mile in.

Then … a long walk that winds up and down (so climbing and descending in both directions)

Eventually we started to converge down towards a beach that marks the end of the first 2 mile stretch

… and there we were … large and powerful waves … not safe for swimming in … when we flew in the helicopter over this area the pilot told us that during the summer months the water here is like a lake … flat and peaceful … and it is possible to kayak the length of the coast.

In the second stretch in the direction of the waterfall  .. there were impressive bamboo clusters that stood out from the already dense green vegetation.

Then we stopped at another coast with a pier … and had a tatse of a local Hawaiian day ending … with many people converging on the coast to take in a sunset:

… those surfers are 8 year old girls